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Thread Recap (last 10 posts from newest to oldest)

May 21, 12 at 9:37pm

midnight_plue

And just for future reference, "Use power materials for levels 11-40" means using a power material when going from level 10 to 11 and so on.

thanks Rain, but oops i went with a mix of potent and power but haven't max it out yet, still at stage 2 i think, didn't have enough power orbs lol... I can either feed it power mats from where I stop till i max it out or release it and try to farm Chichu from Valdfor...

May 21, 12 at 5:10am

Stardust92

Tks rain for the buildI still prefer using only power material ;-)

May 21, 12 at 2:34am

R a i n

For Chichu, all power is the way to go.

And just for future reference, "Use power materials for levels 11-40" means using a power material when going from level 10 to 11 and so on.

May 20, 12 at 7:12pm

midnight_plue

@ R a i n if comparing to all power and a mix of potent and power, like how you mentioned above, which one would be an optimal setup for all-round gameplay and boss fights?

and this part: Use power materials for levels 11-40, and for levels 61-70. Does it means I use power materials for when I wanna level up from lvl 10 to lvl 11, i use power materials? Or when lvl-ing up from 11 to 12, then only I use power materials?

A little confused here Hope you can guide me on this... thanks!

Feb 10, 12 at 1:27am

R a i n

One of the eternal questions regarding Final Fantasy XIII-2 is, How in the world should I build Chichu?!!? Should I do what I do to most monsters and just throw a bunch of potent materials at it, or should I go all out on strength at the expense of HP? Being one of the best Commandos in the game, but recruitable only once, this question has given many FFXIII-2 players great pain. This topic hopes to provide a definitive answer, or at least a means, to settle the question once and for all.

Naive buildsTo set the stage, It is useful to first consider some of the more 'naive' builds. Here naive only refers to the fact that these builds are very simple to execute and all seem sensible in isolation - no pejorative intended.

First is the all-potent build. Fairly decent HP, but compromised strength.

Second is the all-power build. Very high strength, but uncomfortably low HP.

Third is the Chichu-is-late-bloomer build, where one decides to pour in power materials only in the latter stages where Chichu is growing more rapidly.

Fourth is the Power-Crystals-are-a-pain-to-find build. This guy bought as much power materials as he can, until he realized no amount of gil can buy Power Crystals, so uses potent instead.

The last two builds are attempts to find a middle ground. However, as we shall see, these two are fail builds. It is possible to pretty much do better across the board by very carefully choosing the mix of potent and power materials.

Note: All final numbers include the Strength: +25% passive ability that Chichu naturally learns.

In the spreadsheet linked above, I have assembled all the information required to build your own Chichu by specifying any possible combination of potent-power materials. It presents, for every level, the raw growth numbers, the bonus gained if you used potent materials, and the bonus gained if you used power materials.

By editing the "Power?" column (enter 1 if you want to use power material for that level, 0 if you want to use potent), you will be able to see, at the bottom of the spreadsheet, the final stats that result, and the amount of potent and power materials required for the build.

Obviously we wouldn't want multiple users editing and saving the changes at the same time, so I have restricted the ability to edit. To edit the spreadsheet yourself, please download the file to your hard drive first.

*Note: Final numbers might be slightly off due to mistaken readings on the screen.

Optimal buildsOf course, what stats you find desirable for your Chichu is ultimately your choice. However, for anyone looking for a recommendation, discussed below are several candidates that I particularly like.

Recommended Build 0For many nodes, the typical situation is that Chichu gains a +2 strength bonus from power material instead of a +1 strength bonus from a potent, or something along those line. It is probably unwise to give up the HP (and magic) bonus just for a small extra increase in strength. This build recognizes this fact and answers by specifying a very simple rule of thumb: Use power materials if and only if the difference in strength bonus is at least 4.

HP---------Strength-----Magic5244------1338----------541

This is a pretty good build. Strength is very decent, and the HP is a very respectable 5244.

Recommended Builds 1 & 2Ultimately the trade-off at each node is between strength and HP. Recommended Build 0 specified a very simple rule to decide, but one can potentially approach it in a more scientific way. Consider the following quantity

I call it 'HP cost" because it is precisely the amount of HP you give up for every extra unit of strength you gained by using power material. Recognizing the trade-off, we may want to regulate this cost directly. This results in some very interesting builds.

Build 1 results from ensuring that the HP cost never exceeds 10: if it does, use a potent material since the extra strength is way too costly. Build 2 does the same, but instead uses a threshold of 7.

These two rules result in very good builds. Notice how #1 almost strictly dominates naive build #4, while #2 almost does the same to naive build #3. My personal favourite is #1, and this is the one listed as default in the spreadsheet.

To make build #1, you'll need 11 potent silvers, 13 power silvers, 32 power orbs, 34 potent essences, 29 power essences, 23 potent crystals, and 29 power crystals. Use power materials for levels 11-40, and for levels 61-70.

ConclusionUltimately, all of this is merely splitting hairs. Whichever build you went with, rest assure that even if you messed up the difference is probably not really noticeable. On the other hand, if you follow the recommended build or at least play around with the spreadsheet, you can take comfort in that the Chichu you have may be like Carlsberg - "probably the best Chichu in the world".

Feel free to discuss and share your own Chichu builds!

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Great work done by "laurencium" from the gamefaqs boards to provide us this data. He grinded and grinded until he had enough potent and power materials to do any build and read the numbers off the screen for hours.